Described as staunch by some and rigid by others, the appointment of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as successor to Pope John Paul II was mostly welcomed in South Africa on Wednesday.
Political leaders and church groups hailed his selection, as Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu expressed disappointment.
Ratzinger is unlikely to ”move the kind of agenda that many of us would have hoped for”, Tutu said, adding that he would have preferred someone from the Third World.
”If I had been a cardinal and had the right to vote, I would not have given my vote to the new pope,” the Nobel Peace Prize laureate told reporters in Cape Town.
President Thabo Mbeki described Ratzinger, who is to be known as Pope Benedict XVI, as a potential African ally.
”The new pope … endured being forced into the Nazi army as a teenager in the 1940s. This gave him first-hand knowledge of racist evil, a scourge that is by no means defeated in the world of 2005,” Mbeki said.
”We in Africa see him as a potential ally of insight and strength in renewed warfare to create a new safer and fairer world.”
The Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference said Ratzinger has shown himself to be a defender of faith ”and a staunch advocate for the preservation of the gospel values embedded in the Catholic tradition”.
”Pope Benedict XVI’s long-time friendship and acquaintance with the teaching of the late John Paul II are a solid foundation and inspiration to the newly elected pope to continue the work of promoting and defending the sanctity of life, to stand against violence and war as a way of solving conflicts, to be the voice of the voiceless in the world and to build bridges among peoples of different religions.”
Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane described Ratzinger as a talented and gifted man, saying: ”We hope that God will give him the strength and grace to lead the church in the many challenges that face us.”
The African Christian Democratic Party said Ratzinger has very large shoes to fill, ”but we trust that he will be guided by the footsteps of the late John Paul II, who led millions of faithful on their spiritual journey”.
It encouraged him to build on the efforts of his predecessor to open dialogue between the Catholic Church and Israel.
”Moreover, we trust that the newly elected pontiff will help root out any sexual abuse against children that has plagued the Catholic Church in recent years.
”To be silent on this issue is to go against the true teachings of the Bible that all Christians live by,” the ACDP said.
Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi said it should not matter that the new pope does not hail from the developing world, as Catholicism is based on equality before God.
He expressed the hope that Ratzinger will play a ”prophetic” role in bridging the north-south divide and defeating the world’s biggest enemy, HIV/Aids.
”According to the Vatican, a quarter of the care of victims of HIV/Aids in the developing world is delivered by the church,” Buthelezi said. ”I exhort the new pope to take every opportunity available to him to break down the walls of stigma and silence that surround this disease, particularly in the developing world.”
Tutu said he had hoped the new pope would have been more open to the possibility of lifting the Catholic Church’s ban on condom use.
But Ratzinger clearly is someone who holds strongly to ”a rigid line”, Tutu said.
”We hope, we hope, we hope, very, very much that sitting on the papal throne will have the effect of easing the rigidities,” he added. — Sapa